Neutral carrier Ethernet exchange

15 January 2011 |

Ian Horley recently joined CENX as director of carrier
services in EMEA, applying his experience and excitement to the role played by the neutral carrier Ethernet exchange.

I have been involved in wholesale telecoms since 1999, starting with roles in sales and business development for subsea cable systems operators such as FLAG, Tyco and Tata. The role of carrier neutral data centres grew in housing critical equipment in networks, and in the storage and processing used for cloud computing, digital media and financial services; in 2008, I moved to Interxion, ultimately as segment head for carrier, ISP and exchanges. This was an exciting role that involved working with companies such as CENX, as a response to the carrier Ethernet boom that enabled the rapidly growing segments Interxion serves across Europe.

Carrier Ethernet represents the best solution for business applications that require performance, reliability, quality of service, security and flexibility, otherwise not available from the public internet. Carrier Ethernet also significantly lowers the costs it offers operators. It is estimated that 80% of recent requests for proposals have a carrier Ethernet element, which has helped drive the need for a cost-effective and rapidly deployable method to interconnect the Ethernet networks. So a neutral carrier Ethernet exchange such as CENX is essential for carrier Ethernet to scale with the rapid growth in demand and meet the high expectations of business for performance and flexibility when their links span multiple networks globally.

I joined CENX for the same reasons that most of its customers select CENX: the calibre and depth of the team, their extraordinary day-to-day involvement in the development of carrier Ethernet, the advanced value propositions and the fact that CENX was already live in multiple markets.

My new role at CENX is divided between promoting the CENX value propositions across all parts of the EMEA region, engaging carriers to connect as CENX members and facilitating the introduction of carriers across the exchange to drive new revenue and cost reduction. Last November, CENX exceeded 15 million Ethernet service locations serving our carrier Ethernet exchanges worldwide.